


A Tale of Fire and Tigers

by Anonymous



Series: The Blossoms of Time [4]
Category: Chinese History RPF
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-11
Updated: 2015-09-11
Packaged: 2018-04-18 02:35:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4689239
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Having been abandoned in Wuchang by her family Leng Lingwan is found by Sun Shang Xiang. Finding some what royal life dispicable she runs away only to feign her identity and rejoin Sun Quan's army as a foot soldier after discovering that thievery is a much more dangerous option. Yet with a suspicious commander, the much loved teen Ling Tong, and the weight of execution if found out on her shoulders it quickly becomes questionable if she'll last much longer.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Tale of Fire and Tigers

“Come on Lingwan” Father snapped, grabbing my hand and pulling me through the streets of Wuchang. The autumn of 202 had not been particularly kind to my family. The crops on our farm had failed completely and with lack of taxes to pay and food to give we had had to run away.  
“Bahba where are we going?” I asked as he wrenched at my arm, never daring to let go. I would easily be lost in a great crowds of the city.  
“I already told you, we're just going back to Mahma and the others” he grumbled. Father didn't like me asking questions, he thought that women asking men questions wasn't something they were supposed to do. Though how I was supposed to find anything out with this mentality was a little, well difficult.

However something seemed to disturb Father and he sat me down on a step up to an abandoned shop.  
“Lingwan stay here, I've just seen someone who I need to talk to in private. Just stay here” he warned me.  
“Yes Bahba” I nodded, I asked questions sometimes but I was an obedient child, even if I had just reached what Mother called “the problematic years” of life that my two elder brothers and three elder sisters had already gone through. So without a word said he walked away.

Though, like pretty much everything, I kept this to myself, but I hated waiting. I hated nerves that sometimes came with it – worrying about what might be said to you on return or what may be happening to the person you were waiting for. The way my Mother had raised me had turned me into a paranoid and some what secretive person. I kept myself to myself, as my sisters did as well, while our brothers could be loud and proud with everything. 

I was always paranoid about something, both small and large. Sometimes it would just be a small thing like having enough potatoes for dinner. Here, sat in the city, it was big things. Will that man over there try and grab me? Do people think I'm a beggar? Will I be accused of a false theft? While all were quite serious and potential threats they never seemed to happen. However much I worried and glanced about in a suspicious frenzy nothing seemed to happen. That included Father coming back to get me.

It must have been two whole hours before I really moved. The sun had moved far too much and, while I had been shuffling uncomfortably as everyone does on a stone step, I felt stiff. So of course I stood and up and stretched, making my whole body shake with the suddenly released stiffness. My legs almost gave out and I wrapped my arms around my middle.  
“What are you doing here?” Asked a woman, definitely a noble woman, “you look a little lost.”  
“I think my Father abandoned me here” I answered, I may have been secretive but that didn't stop me being quite blunt sometimes, usually when I was around other women.  
“What makes you think that? Surely he wouldn't do such a thing” she said, looking quite shocked.  
“He hasn't come back for two hours” I answered.  
“Well, it's getting late, you should come back with me and my brother and I will get you something to eat” she smiled, holding out her hand.

Her hand was petite and pale, adorned with a jade ring each on the index and smallest fingers. I had always been told never to take a strangers hand but this hand seemed to pull me, I wanted to go with this woman. My father had always told my brothers never to trust a beautiful maiden but he never said anything of the sort to my sister's and I. So, I took her hand and she lead me down the street, being followed by her two guards.  
“Brother! Brother where are you?!” She called, her small hand had a surprisingly tight grip. A man with reddish hair, who must have been twenty or so, came out from one of the streets.  
“Oh there you are Xiang” he smiled, he then looked at me and smiled just as brightly, “who's this?”

There was an awkward silence.  
“Well would you like to introduce yourself?” Xiang asked, smiling down at me.  
“Oh...I...er...I'm sorry. I'm Leng Lingwan, it's a pleasure to meet you” I answered, going a little rosy. Xiang laughed,  
“I'm Sun Shang Xiang, and this is my brother, Sun Quan.” I quickly let go of her hand and stepped away.  
“Lady Sun, Lord Sun, I...er...I should not have...er...bothered you” I stuttered. However Xiang gave me a big grin and grabbed my hand again,  
“It's alright, we'd like it if you came and stayed with us!”  
“What happened to you?” Quan asked, raising an eyebrow.  
“Said her Father abandoned her” Xiang answered, “she doesn't look like she's eaten for a while.”  
“Then I” Quan began before picking me up and sitting me on his shoulder, “shall carry her.”

I couldn't help myself, I giggled a little and clung to Quan. To be fair, embrace all the oddity that comes into your life, how many people get carried round on the shoulder of the Marquis of Wu.  
“How did you end up in Wuchang then?” Xiang asked, a big grin still on her face.  
“Our crops failed and....and we had to run away because we couldn't pay our taxes to the local lord and” I said everything in a gabble, I knew what we'd done was very much illegal.  
“You shouldn't worry about it” Quan reassured me, “it's hardly fair to demand taxes from a family who really do have none to give.”

“Was your family big Lingwan?” Xiang asked. I nodded my head,  
“Father, Mother, three elder brothers, four elder sisters, myself, two younger sisters and a baby brother.”  
“Wow, that's quite a lot” Xiang smiled, “it's just Quan, Yi and myself now.”  
“Wait, I remember now, wasn't Lord Sun Ce your elder brother? He stopped at our farm once” I said.  
“Did he now” Quan laughed, “oh of course he would, he's Ce after all. It's a shame he isn't hear to meet you, I'm sure he'd love to. Don't you think so Xiang?”  
“Indeed brother” Xiang smiled, though it was a sad smile and I could see that they missed their brother very much.

Now, as was expected of a Marquis, the place the Sun family lived was huge, so huge in fact it was a little difficult to believe Sun Quan was only a Marquis. The palace of Wuchang seemed to span the very horizon, blocking out the very sun. A glorious red colour, replaicing the sun as the burning flame that lit the city.  
“Magnificant isn't it” Xiang smiled, she then waved to a man who was stood on the steps waiting for them. She had a big grin on her face and he returned both the smile and the wave. He was a very handsome man, perhaps a little older than Quan by the looks of it. 

“Well, well, what have you brought back with you this time” the man laughed, smiling at me brightly as Quan set me down and Xiang took my hand again.  
“Apparently her father abandoned her in the city and it was getting late, we thought it was for the best” Xiang answered.  
“I see” the handsome man nodded, “so, what's your name?”  
“Leng Lingwan” I answered, not stuttering this time. He smiled a perfect smile and replied,  
“Well, I'm Zhou Yu” and he then added with a laugh, “and of course Lady Sun's timing is excellent, dinner is just about to be served.”

Dinner was exquisite as one might expect from a marquis with many men under his name but it seemed that shock after shock came. These people lived so well! Rows upon rows of meat and fresh food in general. My eyes almost popped out of my head as my brain struggled to take in every red, orange, brown, green, yellow, black and many more shades that you can think of. Spices, meats, sweets and sours filled the air, rendering all dizzy and desperate for food. Xiang took me personally to sit with a few others my age, gave me a big smile and then went to sit with the handsome man and her brother and a few other people. One looked sickly but certainly capable. One looked incredibly like the boy sat next to me. Another looked very young but was most definitely older than I was. Yet there was one thing that really had my attention – I had never seen so many people in one place.

“What are you looking so shocked about?” Asked a voice. I jumped, turning in the direction of the speaker. It was the boy next to me who looked like the man sat with Xiang, Quan and Zhou Yu.  
“I've never seen so many people in one room” I answered, smiling.  
“Really? I thought everyone here had eaten dinner in this room” he replied, looking confused.  
“Ah, Lady Sun found me and told me to come and stay her for the night...or perhaps longer. I was left on a street” I explained. The boy laughed,  
“Then it will be forever, Lady Sun will probably want you as a bodyguard for her once your old enough. I'm Ling Tong by the way.”  
“I'm Leng Lingwan” I smiled back and then it processed, “wait body guard?! But I'm a girl!”

The boy burst out laughing, get roars of laughter and filled the room to the brim,  
“She's a warrior! She cares not of your gender, if you can fight then you will fight!” He laughed.  
“Ling Tong!” Snapped a voice. It was then that I realised the entire hall had gone quietly and his laughter certainly had filled the very hall.  
“Oh no” he mumbled, slowly turning his head to look at the speaker all the way across the hall, “y-yes Father?” He looked absolutely terrified, his brown eyes wider than the void and his teeth cutting his lip.  
“Keep comments like that to yourself” his Father snapped, indeed they did look alike, “and don't dare be so loud.”  
“Yes father” Ling Tong sighed. Once chatter and begun again he abandoned his dinner and hid under the table. 

Once I had finished eating, which hadn't taken long as I had been ravenous, I lifted the table cloth slightly.  
“Are you alright?” I asked with a laugh when I spotted him hugging his knees.  
“No” he answered, “for I hath been publicly shamed.”  
“Get back here and eat your food, that's hardly a public shame you were being an idiot” I replied. Wait...something like that wouldn't normally come out of my mouth. Perhaps I was a bit more cheery than I gave myself credit for.  
“I refuse, people will laugh” he replied.  
“And they're going to laugh more if you're hiding under a table” I warned him, “I think your Father's just about to come over and fi-” In a split second he was out from under the table and munching away.

“You've made a friend” Xiang laughed, having come over to the table.  
“I guess you could say that” I laughed, giving Tong a glance, which he returned with a cheesy smile – luckily that wasn't quite literal. Xiang smiled at the both of us,  
“That's good, do you want to stay the night or do you want to go and look for your family?” I had to turn away a little, the question had surprised me. I wasn't sure. I mean, I'd like to see them again but suddenly I had seemed so happy here. Well, blood is thicker than water.  
“I'd like to go and find them, I know where they're staying.”

The streets of Wuchang were now cold, the moon unable to give any warmth to the stones that it lit. Xiang held tightly onto my hand as I led her through the twists and turns. Just before we had left I had seen a sword at her waist. She really was the warrior that Tong had said she was. So with one hand round mine and the other on her sword Lady Sun kept her guard, for both of us. There were drunken roars and shrieks of laughter, producing the music of the night. It was accompanied by complete silence in a concerto. With such power it made you shiver, yet neither felt safe.

Finally we came to the thin alley that led to the house my family were staying in. It was abandoned and riddled with spiders and the cold lay it's blanket only on this house. Yet it would do.  
“Please, my Lady, wait here” I whispered to her. She nodded and let go of my hand. I found myself wanting to grab it again, to return with her rather than return to them. I was not hated by the them, things were just difficult. If I disappeared then they'd have one less mouth to feed and I'd be under the watchful eye of the Sun family. It would suit us both fine.

The door creaked as I pushed it gently and quickly there was a clatter of footsteps.  
“Who goes there?” Demanded a voice. Father's voice.  
“It's me, Lingwan” I answered, shaking a little, not sure whether I wanted to run or cry.  
“Who” he replied.  
“You're daughter” I seemed to remind him. How could he forget?  
“I have no daughter. Leave” he snapped. Father shifted slightly so a little moonlight was cast upon the slither of the door that was open and you could just see his worn face, “and don't return.”


End file.
